Gov. Ed's approval ratings are still dwelling in the basement at 42-51 percent, which is a slight improvement from the career low of 39-53 percent recorded back in July. Barely a quarter of voters (26) approve of his handling of the budget mess, while a clear majority (53 percent) say he's been too inflexible.

Nearly a third of voters say Rendell's been courageous in his handling of The Frankenbudget, so we'll assume Quinny pollsters somehow got through to the executive branch switchboard that day.

Barely a third of voters (31 percent) say they approve of the agreement that led to The Frankenbudget, while 37 percent disapprove and 31 percent aren't sure (how we envy them). More than a quarter (27 percent) say Rendell bears the brunt of responsibility, while 21 percent blame legislative Republicans, 9 percent blame Democrats and 30 percent blame each side equally.

Speaking of lawmakers, they shouldn't be turning cartwheels over Rendell's poll results. They're even less popular. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of those surveyed say they disapprove of the General Assembly's job performance, compared to 27 percent who approve.

That's even worse than the July 21 result, where 57 percent of respondents said they disapproved of the Legislature, compared to 27 percent who approve.

On the gubernatorial front, meanwhile, Republican AG Tom Corbett is the only candidate voters can pick out of a line-up.

Forty-six percent of state Democrats remain undecided. The front-runner, such as it is, is Allegheny County Exec Dan Onorato, who takes 14 percent of the vote in a theoretical head-to-head, over MontCo Commissioner Joe Hoeffel (12 percent) and Auditor General Jack Wagner (11 percent).

Quinny pollsters were out in the field from September 21 - 28, where they sampled the opinions of 1,100 Pennsylvania voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The survey includes 465 Republicans and 479 Democrats, each with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

State House Democrats ...
... say they intend to vote tomorrow on a bill that would slap a tax on the extraction on the natural gas

extracted from the Marcellus Shale deposits in rural Pennsylvania.

But they're also sticking with the terms of The Frankenbudget deal, which call for the expansion of oil and gas drilling in state forests. So we can't help by assume that tomorrow's vote is intended to mollify the 30 or so lawmakers who wrote to leadership last week and asked them to scrap the lease expansion.

"We will clearly express a Marcellus Shale expansion tax," Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne, said after a five-hour caucus this afternoon in which Democratic backbenchers finally got a chance to vent over the spending plan. "Our members want to see a vote."

More astute readers may recall that the Senate GOP has said about ... ohhh ... a million times that they're not interested in a severance tax bill. Gov. Ed has said the same thing, arguing that the poor dears at ExxonMobil can't withstand the hit to their multibillion-dollar profits while they're trying to get a new industry off the ground.

And we're sorta thinking that Eachus knows that too, because he made it pretty clear that the deal House Dems, the Guv and the Senate GOP announced, lo, those many days ago, is still in force.

"That agreement is whole and we're working through the issues with our caucus," Eachus said, as we pictured Democrats having a good cry, hugging it out and then voting for The Frankenbudget anyway. "Those concerns have to be addressed."

We were also intrigued to see apparently new terminology work its way into the lexicon tonight. The stuff backbench Democrats don't like (but leaders earlier agreed to) is now known as "Republican concepts."

As in:

"I think what we heard today inside our caucus is that there are concerns over the Republican concepts that were put on the table," Eachus said. "We are working through those issues with our members. Clearly there is a concern about leases. Clearly there is a concern about small games [of chance] and how it is applied to VFWs."

As they headed into closed-door caucus on Tuesday afternoon, state House
Democrats were hoping to

emerge with the one thing that’s eluded them so far:
concrete details of the compromise $27.9 billion budget plan that legislative
leaders and Gov. Ed announced nearly two weeks ago.

By late in the day on Tuesday, it appeared that
rank-and-file Democrats were beginning to hear what they wanted to hear. But as
has been the case with everything associated with Pennsylvania’s months-old budget debate,
progress appeared to be coming slowly and, perhaps, a bit painfully.

“A robust debate,” House Majority Whip Bill DeWeese,
D-Greene, quipped, as he exited and then quickly ducked back into the
Democrats’ first-floor caucus room.

“I’d say the mood is one of polite questioning,” was the
description of the day’s proceedings from House Transportation Committee
Chairman Joseph Markosek, D-Allegheny. “It’s an imperfect budget. I’d prefer a
perfect one. But I’ve been around long enough to know that’s not going to
happen.”

Then, this, still later from Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware:
“I think our leaders have listened to us and they’re going to make some
adjustments.”

With 102 votes at stake, the House Democratic caucus has
emerged as a key battleground in the effort to end this year’s budget
stand-off.

But as they have for days now, backbenchers continue to have
questions about the guts of the spending plan.

Among those concerns: a controversial plan to expand natural
gas drilling in state forests; the legalization of table games at
Pennsylvania’s slot machine casinos, and proposals to tax theatre and museum
tickets as well as small games of chance run by private clubs and volunteer
fire companies.

“As this thing goes along, there are still lots of places
where it could be chipped apart,” said Christopher Borick, a political science
professor at MuhlenbergCollege in Allentown.
“There’s pressure points on specific aspects of [the budget]. When you’re
playing with a fairly small margin [of votes] it doesn’t take a lot to make it
fall apart.”

With 99 votes, House Republicans say they plan to vote
against the budget. And Democratic and Republican leaders in the 50-member
Senate insist they have the votes to approve the budget.

That means that only a handful of House Democrats would have
to break from their party to send the budget down to defeat.

And as work continues on the budget’s fine print, some
political observers are wondering whether legislative leaders and Rendell will
be able to secure those votes and meet a self-imposed Sunday deadline to
approve the 2009-2010 spending plan.

As of Tuesday afternoon, House Democratic leaders appeared
confident that their coalition would hold. Still, “there are a lot of moving
pieces … and it will take a lot of hard work to finalize it,” Brett Marcy, a
spokesman for House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerene, acknowledged.

Good Afternoon, Everyone.
And welcome back to another installment of Pennsylvania's Only State Government

Podcast. We're tickled pink that you've decided to join on what could be the last week of Budget Debacle 2009.

We've a veritable bumper crop of topics to cover this week. So thril as your erstwhile podders John Micek, Alex Roarty and Scott Detrow take on these exciting subjects:

ARE WE THERE YET?:Gov. Ed and legislative leaders say they want a final budget passed by the weekend. But just like being trapped in a car with a suburban dad who would rather drive around in circles than ask for directions, we know better than to get our hopes up.

NEED TO KNOW BASIS: Rank-and-file lawmakers have been complaining for days about the scant details surrounding The Frankenbudget. But is keeping your coalition in the dark really the best way to ensure their support?

AND YOU WOULD BE????: The 2010 gubernatorial primary field is filling up quickly. But, unlike us, polls show that most Pennsylvania voters are blissfully unaware of who's seeking Pennsylvania's highest office. What will it take to break from the pack?

DROPS OF KNOWLEDGE: In which Scott Detrow shares his adventures covering the G-20 in Pittsburgh and the rest of the PAU crew offers their prognostications on the week to come.

So sit back, click the download link below and let the audio goodness wash over you. It's another edition of Politics as Usual.

"I'm not satisfied with the pace of where we are, and neither are they," Rendell said yesterday after a midday meeting with lawamakers.

Lawmakers are still trying to cone to agreement on the expansion of natural gas drilling on state forest land; levying a new tax on small games of chance and legalizing table games at Pennsylvania's slot-machine casinos, our friends at the Associated Press report this morning.

In the meantime, there's increased grumbling in the House over some components of The Frankenbudget. Voting sessions are slated to begin tomorrow and run through the weekend. And, as we understand, House Democrats are to finally return to town so they can determine first-hand what's in the budget instead of, as has been the custom so far, asking reporters to find out for them.

Rendell said he's not worried about the grumbling among the rank-and-file.

"There's always opposition to certain parts of the budget," he said.

The Senate says it plans to stay in session all week, even as a senior Republican acknowledged that a finish by the weekend might be a touch on the optimistic side. Legislators in both chambers have to sign off on six to 12 bills to get the thing done. And it wasn't clear yesterday what the House intended to do with itself after Wednesday's voting session ends, the AP reported.

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, told the online news service Capitolwire that he's hopeful that unrest in the cheap seats will settle down once backbenchers know more about what's in the budget.

“I believe there’s been a narrowing of opposition as more information goes out,” Pileggi said.

Elsewhere in the state, voters in the Montgomery County-based 24th Senate District (which stretches arthritically into the city of Easton) will pick a successor to former Sen. Robert C. Wonderling of Lansdale during a special election day.

State Rep. Bob Mensch, R-Montgomery, is the GOP candidate for the seat. He's facing Democrat Anne Scheuring, who's a borough councilwoman in Lansdale. Libertarian Barbara Steever is also on the ballot.

Today's election will determine whether the Senate GOP will retain its massive 30-20 majority in the chamber, or will have to make-do with a slightly less massive edge of 29-21.

That's it for now. Tune in later today for this week's edition of the "Politics As Usual" podcast with good pals Alex Roarty and Scott Detrow.

And before we forget, a massive thank-you to the Capitol Ideas and Washington Post readers who think that we belong on a list of the best state political reporters in the nation.

Good Morning, Fellow Seekers.
Though we are technically off today for a Yom Kippur observance, we didn't want the day to pass without at least an ingot or two of the political news and gossip you've come to expect from us.

A senior aide to McCord defended the spending at a time when programs across state government are being cut or eliminated as lawmakers and Gov. Ed Rendell work out the fine print on a $27.9 billion compromise budget plan.

Documents show that the Neiman Group was brought on board on June 25 and was charged
with doing direct-mail and e-mail blasts to about 500,000 Pennsylvania families with children. There’s also been a public relations campaign that includes making McCord available for interviews about the program with education reporters.

We know this because one of our colleagues was on the receiving end of one of those calls earlier this week.

The contract, which was competitively bid, is slated to end in late
October. It was not immediately clear whether Neiman was the
low-bidder, or was awarded the contract because it had the most
expertise.

Douglas K. Rohanna, McCord's Deputy Treasurer for External Affairs, defended the expenditure, arguing that public interest in the Treasury Department’s twin college-savings programs – the Guaranteed Savings Plan and the 529 Investment Plan – has never been higher. And getting parents to save for college during an economic downturn is an important thing to encourage, he said.

“We are having greater success than we’ve seen in the last 70 months,” Rohanna said this afternoon. “We’ve had more accounts opened in the month of August than in the last 70 months. September is on track to be one of the top five out of the last 84 months.”

So far, the Treasury Department has paid about $700,000 to the Neiman Group, whose top executive is former Ridge administration press secretary Tim Reeves. Karen Walsh, a former top aide to ex-Treasurer and current U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., is the firm’s vice-president for public affairs.

Rohanna said the Treasury Department will likely come in under budget on the advertising campaign and had received a discount on some services because it had paid in advance.

One campaign vet we talked to said Neiman’s numbers sounded kosher and said McCord’s office was paying about the right amount for a costly direct-mail campaign. The contract shows McCord's office is paying $337,000 for the mailing.

But a public-policy type questioned the appropriateness of spending scarce tax dollars on a program that’s running a deficit.

This year, McCord’s office had to begin charging premiums of up to 8 percent on the nearly 89,000 individuals enrolled in the $1.1 billion Guaranteed Savings Plan, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The move was intended to ensure that the state earns enough on its investments to cover the cost of tuition when parents come calling for their money, the newspaper reported.
According to Rohanna, the fund had a deficit of $400 million in March. As of June 30, that deficit had been whittled to $222 million, Rohanna said..

"It might not be the best use of taxpayer money right now," said Nathan Benefield, a policy analyst with the free-market favoring Commonwealth Foundation, a Harrisburg think-tank.

Gail Eisneberg, a marketing professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, questioned the effectiveness of paying the advertising firm to engage in only direct-mail and e-mail campaigns.

“People need to be exposed to a message six to eight times before it sinks in,” she said.

Rohanna said the effort has been working. So far, the firm has done two, direct-mail campaigns. A third is in the works. There are also plans in the works for a television commercial later this fall.

“When we constructed the budget, we wanted to invest in things that had a long-term value,” he said. “We will be producing a TV spot and potentially a radio spot. We haven’t planned for this fiscal year.

That could happen in November when Treasury is “looking to roll out our next campaign when we get into the holiday gift-giving season,” Rohanna said.

Well, it occurred to us (and some other intrepid Capitol reporters) that another election season is upon us. And we therefore wondered whether Corbett, now a declared candidate for governor, might make another such pledge this year.

The short answer, according to his official spokesman Kevin Harley is "No."

"Last year was obviously different because he was on the ballot and legislators were on the ballot," Harley said this morning.

But with voters just heading to the polls to pick judges, township supervisors, county executives, county commissioners and other local offices, "It's not quite the same," Harley told us.

When we asked him how things were going with the public corruption probe that's now well into its third year and apparently still going strong (and whether there might be any new charges to accompany our Jack O'Lanterns this autumn), Harley said, "I can tell you that the announcement will come when the grand jury has finished its work."

So, when might that be?

"The announcement of any additional charges will come when the grand jury has completed its work," Harley said, seeing completely through our utterly transparent ruse to get him to cough up some additional information.

In tribute to our colleagues who are pulling hazard duty out there in Pittsburgh for the G-20 conference, we've outfitted Capitol Ideas World HQ in anti-aircraft netting and we're currently sporting a very stylish gas mask and flak jacket by Burberry.

While we have no reason to think that anarchist protesters hopped up on too much free-trade coffee and Rage Against the Machine records are going to storm the Capitol newsroom, our curmudgeonly, New England side reminds us that you can never be too careful.

Just in case, we have a copy of "Das Kapital" prominently displayed and we intend to blast Billy Bragg records all afternoon as a kind of preemptive measure. We'd invite you to join us, but we fear you'd have a hard time making it through the 50 yards of concertina wire we laid down this morning.

While we make further preparations, why don't you check out the rest of today's political headlines? They start, as always, after the jump.

... has given his official blessing to AG Tom Corbett's gubernatorial campaign.

Here's the relevant part of Ridge's statement:

“My tenure as governor has afforded me a unique understanding of what it will take to once again put Pennsylvania on a path towards prosperity, and once again restore trust in Harrisburg,” Ridge said. “With this in mind, I have decided to share my belief that the most qualified candidate to become Pennsylvania’s next Governor is Tom Corbett.”

In a related story, former U.S. Rep. John "I-80" Peterson of Venango County, has thrown his GOP gubernatorial endorsement to U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-6th.

That Solid "Thwack" You Hear ...
... would be us smacking ourselves on the forehead in disbelief.

Remember how, a couple of months ago, Gov. Ed got in some hot water for cheekily suggesting that state employees should put a statue of him up on their mantelpieces to thank him for being such an aggressive advocate for their interests?

"'We have a president that gets it, a president who's willing to invest significant dollars in promoting the green energy economy. And you're very lucky that you have a governor who gets it, as well,'Rendell said, noting the state has invested $1 billion to create 560 green energy projects and 9,000 jobs during his 6 1/2 years in office."

Here's the nickel tour:
A slim majority (51 percent) believe that the POTUS is doing an excellent or good job, compared to 47

percent who say he's doing a fair or poor job. No shockah here, three-quarters of Democrats give Obama high marks, compared to 13 percent amongst Republicans.
Independents are more evenly split, 47-54 percent, over whether Obama is doing an excellent job or a fair or poor one.

A bare majority (51 percent) of national voters approve of the way Obama's handling matters in Afghanistan, while 29 percent disapprove. A clear majority (54 percent) say they personally favor our Afghani excursion, while 36 percent are opposed.

Nearly nine of 10 voters say they have some kind of healthcare coverage, but one in five respondents say they went without coverage in the past year. And Americans are pretty much evenly split between reforming the current system (79 percent) and leaving it alone (78 percent). Among those who think things need to be changed, the cost of care was cited as a top concern (56 percent).

Voters support the POTUS' healthcare plans over Republican congressional proposals (47-21 percent), but a third (32 percent) has no idea who's cornered the market on wisdom.

F&M pollsters sampled the opinions of 1,064 voters between Sept. 15 and Monday. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent for all adults and 3.3 percent for registered adults.

The rest of today's news has a 50-50 chance of starting after the jump. A clear majority (at least 51 percent) is designed to be funny. But we make no guarantees.

Good Afternoon, Fellow Seekers.
Our apologies for the sporadic posts these last few days. We've been preoccupied with

churning out copy for The Mothership and analyzing the guts of Budget Deal 2009.

This process is more time-consuming than you might think because it involves actual reporting and not the crafting of a few glib asides peppered with hyperlinks and padded out by obscure references to 1980s English guitar bands.

Not that we don't thrive on that kind of stuff. But when our editor at the Mothership called us, his eyes baleful and his tone mournful, asking for copy, we couldn't say anything but yes.

This afternoon, however, freshly fortified by a steaming pot of ... ... we ventured out to see if the least agreed-to budget agreement that we've ever seen was quivering closer to agreement on the fine print.

This is roughly about when we ran into Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson outside his Capitol offices.

That's metaphorically "ran into," by the way. Because if we actually ran into Scarnati, who's also the lieutenant governor, we'd probably be posting this entry from the safety and comfort of a state police holding cell. We love the state police and their concerns about physical collisions with the LG are entirely understandable.

"We're still dotting the I's and crossing the T's," Scarnati told us and Mario Cattabiani of the Inky (whom we'd briefly considered using as a human shield in the instance of an inadvertent misunderstanding with Scarnati's security detail).

"The numbers are not completely reconciled," Scarnati continued. "We're putting together the vehicles to put the bills back and forth -- the logistics of it ... "

Scarnati touched on some other issues. That includes that new sales tax facing the arts community. He told us that, actually, it's for their own good, because it's taking the money and putting it into a dedicated fund that will ensure the arts are funded long after the schools stop teaching them because lawmakers have authorized too many standardized tests.

Also, Scarnati said he's happy to hear from the private club operators and others who will be affected by a proposed tax on small games of chance.

"It's not our intent to hurt the clubs," Scarnati said. "We've just begun to have a conversation."

We are reliably informed that hundreds -- perhaps even dozens -- of legislative staffers are busily working away on the various components of the budget and the miles of legalese that it takes to convert a hare-brained scheme to tax tickets to art museums and not the Eagles into the law of the land.

"A lot of it is literally going through hundreds of pages of documents a line at a time," Senate Republican spokesman Erik Arneson said, vividly reminding us of why we are temperamentally unsuited for a career in government work. "Some people have rulers and are going down each column to make sure that every comma, every letter and every number is absolutely correct."

The way things stand now, it looks like lawmakers may have bills on Gov. Ed's desk by the end of next week after a whirlwind session of votes. But that's advisory. Like your horoscope, we'd ask you not to plan your life around such prognostications.

Good Morning, Everyone.
Sorry we're late. We were unavoidably detained this morning and are only just now firing up the engines here at Capitol Ideas World HQ.
Lawmakers are back in town this morning after a bit of a lay-off. And the Senate is slated to hold its first caucuses this afternoon on the Frankenbudget.
Check back here later today for additional details on the spending plan. We'll be spending our day trying to ferret them out.
And, of course, remember to check the Twitter feed for up-to-the minute updates.

herculean as it turns out, that no votes are scheduled in the House or Senate this week.

Rank-and-file lawmakers, meanwhile, tell us they've yet to see any of the details of the $27.9 billion agreement that legislative leaders and Gov. Ed announced to some degree of hullabaloo last week.

''It's really been limited access to information and I think that's probably the case with most of the rank and file,'' Rep. Nick Kotik, the Allegheny County Democrat who helped organize the conservative ''Blue Dog'' Democrats in the House, told the AP this morning. ''I don't know what their time frame is, so it's really up in the air.''

And while the broad outlines of the budget plan are known, some details, such as the tax rate for table games at casinos and exactly whose ox would be gored by a new sales tax on the sale of theater and museum tickets, are being fairly closely held.

Also a topic of some discussion -- whether the new budget will include "WAMs," or "walking around money," which are the grants for hometown pork that tend to grease the legislative wheels.

Trying to get an answer about whether they're in the budget rather depends on who you talk to. House Democrats claim the Senate is insisting on putting them into the spending plan. The Senate (you guessed it) said that's not the case.

In either case, keep it tuned right here. We'll bring you the latest developments as they happen. In the meantime, why not check out the rest of today's news. It starts, as always, after the jump.

Good Morning, Fellow Seekers.
Today is Sept. 21, 2009, A.D. (or After Deal) for the laymen out there, and here at Capitol Ideas World

HQ, we're still struggling (like the rest of you) to figure out exactly what's in the handshake agreement that lawmakers and Gov. Ed announced early on Friday evening.

Having decided to put the interests of 253 lawmakers ahead of the 12 million Pennsylvanians who have been waiting for a budget since July 1, Rendell and legislative leaders said they're going to wait until they have a chance to brief backbenchers before they release the full details of the $27.9 billion spending plan they should begin voting this week.

We do know that the budget agreement coheres to the broad outlines of the three-caucus plan that was announced two weeks ago. And thanks to the Legislature being an utterly porous place, we also know that it includes such new revenue-raisers as a sales tax on theater and concert tickets and an apparently new levy on the sale of so-called "cigarillos," or little cigars.

We also know that there's a funding mechanism included in the spending plan to help underwrite the construction of a new hockey arena in the Lehigh Valley and that there will most likely be some kind of "local-share" component to the legislation that will legalize table games at the slot-machine casinos.

So Much For That Spirit Of Bipartisanship.
This Paragraph From An AP Story:"House Democrats maintain that voters will harshly judge the Republicans'
disengagement during the late-in-the-game budget talks.
'When you don't come to the table and you don't represent your concerns,
they're underrepresented' said Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne.
"For me, on a personal level, it's the wrong decision.'

Begets This Response From House Republican Spokesman Steve Miskin:
"It is a fact, Rep. [Sam] Smith was at the table when invited representing his caucus and the views of the taxpayers. When he couldn't be persuaded to
raise the spending level extraordinarily and increase taxes, he was no
longer invited. Further, staff was asked to leave meetings. Rep. Eachus
is disingenuous... or worse."

Sigh ... Nice to know you can still count on some things.

And Welcome A New Horse To The Gubestakes:
Looks like Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffelis jumping on the Democratic side. C'mon in, Mr. Hoeffel. The water's fine ... All you need is $4 million to $12 million to swim in it.

could spark
construction of a hockey arena on Allentown's waterfront and lead to
the addition of poker, blackjack and other table games at the Sands
Casino Resort Bethlehem.

The tentative spending plan would raise tax rates on businesses and
cigarette sales, extend the state sales tax to theater and concert
tickets and lease more state forest land for natural-gas exploration.
It would also draw more than $1.5 billion from state reserves.

While boosting support for public education by $300 million, the deal
would cut overall spending by about 1 percent. It would not raise the
state income tax or sales tax rates. It remained unclear exactly which
programs would be cut and by how much.

Slot-machine casino operators and gamblers would get a big boost by the
addition of table games. State officials say they could bring $200
million more to the state as well as more high-rollers -- who spend
more than the average slots player -- to casinos like the Sands.

Part of the final budget agreement could include a financing plan that
would use a taxing district and an amusement tax to cover the cost of
building the arena along the Lehigh River in Allentown.

Flanked by legislative leaders of both parties in his Capitol offices,
Rendell apologized for the 80 days it's taken lawmakers and the
administration to reach an accord. Pennsylvania has been without a completed budget since July 1, marking one of the longest impasses in recent state history.

''The people of Pennsylvania have benefited from this,'' the Democratic
governor said of the spending plan. ''But we have subjected them to a
lot of tension and stress they need not have experienced. We've got to
do better next year,'' he said.

From The Tribune-Review:HARRISBURG — Legislative leaders and Gov. Ed Rendell today reached agreement on a 2009-2010 budget that avoids a major state tax hike and may end the longest budget impasse in at least four decades.
Rendell is expected to announce the deal at an 8 p.m. news conference.
Under the deal, the planned phase-out of a business tax would be halted, table games at casinos would be legalized and taxes would be levied on small games of chance at firehouses and clubs.
The state tax on cigarettes would go up by at least 25 cents. But there is no increase in the state's 3.07 percent income tax, as Rendell sought, or the state's 6 percent sales tax.
The agreement could end Pennsylvania's status as the only state in the nation without a budget. Driving the impasse was a $3.2 billion deficit as of July 1, when a budget agreement was due by law. Today is the 80th day of the impasse.

Greetings Fellow Seekers.
Work on the state budget continues this afternoon. On the Senate side of the Capitol, staffers are buzzing about busily. We're sure the same work is taking place on the House side. We just need to venture over to check.

Here's where things stand at lunchtime on Day 80:

1. Senate Republicans are set to meet with Gov. Ed later this afternoon to continue going over revenue numbers and finding a way to close them. As we've said before, lawmakers and the administration are roughly $200 million to $300 million apart on how they're going to pay for the $27.9 billion compromise budget.

We are told that there could be an agreement-in-principle on the budget today or early tomorrow. But there's still quite a bit of work to be done.

"Everyone's done a fine job of trying to articulate each other's positions," Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, told us just a little bit ago. "Sometimes, things get lost in translation."

2. Lawmakers are already contemplating a 25-cent-a-pack increase to the state's cigarette tax. They're now considering whether to expand the base to so-called "cigarillos," those teeny, tiny cigars so beloved of that man on the right there. Apparently, these cigarillos are captured in the federal excise tax on cigarettes, but are not in state law. It's not immediately clear how much money the state would garner by doing that.

3. Also still in play: How much the state can raise by increasing prize limits and taxes on small games of chance at firehalls and private clubs (that's Bingo, to you). The Senate GOP initially high-balled the figure, while the administration low-balled it. According to Scarnati, the state Department of Revenue says the state can get $40 million from small games with a year's worth of collections and $20 million from six months' worth of tax collections.

"These are the things we're working on," Scarnati said.

4. Funniest Moment From Yesterday We Forgot To Mention: That'd be House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne, announcing that lawmakers planned to work through the Rosh Hashanah weekend because there's "no one in the group of the Jewish faith."
That was when we perked up and reminded Eachus that Gov. Ed is Jewish. House Speaker Keith McCall then chimed in, saying talks weren't necessarily out of the question.
"We'll have to see how dedicated he is to his religion," McCall said.
We understand his fitting for a tin ear will take place later today.

Good Morning, Fellow Seekers.
So it seems like only yesterday that we told you Gov. Ed was in vaunted men's mag Esquire this month, sitting comfortably at No. 40 on the list of the "75 Best People in the World."

The print edition of the magazine landed in our mailbox yesternight. And we spent the early hours of this morning leafing through its pages. Inside, we found a story that might serve as a warning for state lawmakers as they consider whether to legalize table games at Pennsylvania's slot-machine casinos.

The piece by Nate Silver, he of FiveThirtyEight.com fame, starts on page 88 and begins with this ominous warning; "Desperate states looking for more money in sin -- like more gambling and drinking -- may well be out of luck."

Hmmmm ... sound like anyone we know?

"In most jurisdictions, gaming revenues max out quickly," Silver writes, pointing out that, in the east coast gaming mecca of Atlantic City, gaming revenues were no higher in 2008 than they were in 1986, and that 2009 is on pace to be the slowest year for vice since 1983.

Silver also observes that gaming revenues peaked in Illinois in 2002, in Mississippi in 2006 and in Detroit in 2000 (though we suspect that may have something to do with the fact that it's, well, Detroit).

"The boom years in Vegas, when revenues nearly doubled between 1989 and 2006, might have led states to misread casino gambling's upside potential," Silver writes.

By all accounts, Pennsylvania's slot-machine trade is booming. And lawmakers and casino-operators alike are salivating over the $165 million to $300 million a year they may be able to garner from the legalization of table games.

But gambling in America is now reaching a saturation point, with residents in 17 of the largest 20 metropolitan areas living within three-hour drive of a blackjack table. Washington D.C. will become the 18th when Delaware permits blackjack, leaving only Dallas and Atlanta as the holdouts, Silver writes.

And "with all due respect to Philadelphia, tourists aren't more likely to flock there once they can play slots any more than they did before," Silver concludes, adding that the sorts of players that "lower-end casinos attract ... may be exactly the sort who should not be spending their money on gambling."

All these warnings may well fall on deaf ears as state lawmakers and the administration race to complete a budget deal as early as this weekend. But given Silver'sscarily accurate predictions in last year's elections, they're at least worth some consideration.

And if that doesn't work, you can always flip back to page 62 for the interview with comely "Mad Men" actress Alison Brie.

A final note: To our Jewish readers, let us just say l'shanah tova! Happy New Year and Happy Rosh Hashanah. We're looking forward to a celebration this weekend with Mrs. Capitol Ideas and family. Grandmama Capitol Ideas makes some killer brisket.

We'll be back later today with more news and updates as the budget situation warrants. And remember to register for state news alerts on our Twitter page.

HARRISBURG
— Gov. Ed Rendell said tonight that he’s “cautiously optimistic” that he can
reach an agreement with legislators in the next few days that could finally
bring down the curtain on Pennsylvania’s nearly three-month-old budget
stalemate.

“We’re not there yet, but we’ve made substantial progress,”
Rendell said after an hour-long session with Senate Republican leaders at the
Governor’s Mansion in Harrisburg.
“.. In the next day or two, we have a real chance to close the gap and agree
upon something that will be beneficial for the citizens of this commonwealth.”

Budget negotiators have spent most of this week trying to
win Rendell’s support for a compromise $27.9 billion budget plan that boosts
education spending by $300 million, but does not increase the state’s personal
income or sales tax.

Republican leaders said Rendell had largely
agreed to the budget’s bottom line total. Rendell concurred in the
characterization, saying they were nearing agreement on restoring funding to
education and economic development spending.

The Democratic administration and legislative negotiators
remain about $200 million to $300 million on the revenue needed to pay for the
budget.

“I think we can overcome that,” Rendell said of the revenue
gap.

In a separate interview, Senate Majority Leader Dominic
Pileggi, R-Delaware said the session was “cordial” but did not yield a
breakthrough.

Pileggi told reporters that he did not believe lawmakers had
“an easy task” before them as they seek to end one of the longest budget
stalemates in recent state history.

“It’s a process,” Pileggi said. “Eventually, all budget
processes end. This one has taken longer than most.”

Both sides declined to discuss specifics of which revenue
items might be on the table. Legislative negotiators have said they intend to
pay for the plan by, among other things, boosting cigarette and businesses
taxes, legalizing table games at Pennsylvania’s
slot machine casinos, and expanding natural gas drilling leases on state forest
land.

The plan also calls for such one-time fixes as draining the
state's $755 million Rainy Day Fund savings account and transferring $25
million in state liquor store profits into the general fund budget.

Rendell said tonight that legislative leaders had proposed
reductions to the state’s tax credit programs -- including a $75 million credit
for the film industry that has been championed by the governor -- as a way to raise
revenue.

The governor's comments tonight were far more moderate
than his aggressive public criticism of the budget proposal that lawmakers had offered
to him in the early hours of Thursday morning.

During an appearance in Bucks County, Rendell said the plan
lawmakers formulated after hours of closed-door meetings that lasted through
the night on Wednesday “doesn’t come close” to meeting his revenue expectations
for resolving the impasse.

The governor’s comments angered Senate Democrats and left
majority House Democrats wondering whether he’d been fully briefed on the
proposal.

By 9:30 p.m, Rendell said “there had been some
changes” since his initial remarks, but he declined to discuss specifics.

Rendell and lawmakers said they plan to meet again early Friday morning and, likely, throughout the weekend to continue working on the
budget.

Rendell said he’s made plans to contribute his weekly
analysis piece for Comcast Cable’sPhiladelphia Eagles post-game show from Harrisburg this weekend.

Gov. Ed met for about an hour tonight with Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, and Lt. Gov. Joe Scarnati, at the Governor's Mansion on Second Street here in town.

During a briefing with reporters, Pileggi said the session was "cordial," but had not yielded a breakthrough. The two sides agree on a bottom line of $27.9 billion, but differ on how to spend it.

The Democratic administration and Senate GOP negotiators are between $200 million and $300 million apart on the revenue needed to pay for the spending plan. Republicans have pegged the revenue number at roughly $1.2 billion and say they're sticking with a menu of options they presented to Rendell. They're slated to meet again on Friday to continue those talks, Pileggi said.

HARRISBURG - Gov. Ed Rendell says that the budget proposal submitted early today by
legislative leaders "doesn't come close" to meeting his revenue
expectations and resolving the state budget impasse.

"The overall budget the caucuses did give us revenue options, but they
were insufficient," Rendell said during remarks broadcast on the
Pennsylvania Cable Network. "There is not nearly enough recurring
revenue in the plan they submitted last night for me to accept it ... I
am still holding out for them to get real and understand that this
can't be a totally painless process and put in the type of recurring
revenue and the amount of recurring revenue that will balance this
year's and next year's budget.

"I'm still hopeful that will occur. But the plan they submitted last night doesn't come close," Rendell said.

Rendell's spokesman, Gary Tuma, declined comment on the specific nature of Rendell's objections to the plan.

"Our people are still going through it," he said. "We've learned enough for him to make his statement. But we don't want to delve into a chapter and verse recitation."

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, said
he was aware of the governor's remarks, but "I have not heard him from
him personally. So I don't know if that his official position or a
complete position. I hope to hear in a more formal way what his
position is."

Senate Minority Leader Robert J. Mellow, D-Lackawanna, was incensed by Rendell's remarks.
"Ed Rendell should be here negotiating the budget, not on national
television with Dr. Phil or talking about Donovan McNabb's broken rib
when we have a broken budget. It's really reprehensible. I just can't
comprehend why this is not done."

Lawmakers would not say what's in the proposal submitted early today.
House Speaker Keith McCall, D-Carbon, and other negotiators worked
through Wednesday night, seeking to end the stalemate.

Said Pileggi: ''We will continue to meet as long as we make progress.''

As they have for each of the last several days, legislative leaders
said they were trying to resolve their differences over how to raise
the revenue needed to pay for a $27.9 billion compromise budget that
was made public last week.

Backers want to pay for the plan by, among other things, halting a
planned phase-out of the state's capital stock and franchise tax levied
against a business's physical assets; raising cigarette taxes by 25
cents a pack; and legalizing table games at the state's slot machine
casinos.

The plan also calls for such one-time fixes as draining the state's
$755 million Rainy Day Fund savings account and transferring $25
million in state liquor store profits into the general fund budget.
Rendell has vowed to veto the compromise budget, saying it would put the state $1 billion in the red next year.

Appearing In Bucks County Today ...
... Gov. Ed didn't have much to say about the budget offer that legislative leaders sent him early this morning. Rendell reiterated his veto threat if lawmakers don't send him the kind of spending plan he's looking for.

Here's the full text of his remarks. Our thanks to our friends at PCN and KYW-1060 AM.

"The overall budget the caucuses did give us revenue options, but they were insufficient. There is not nearly enough recurring revenue in the plan they submitted last night for me to accept it ... I am still holding out for them to get real and understand that this can't be a totally painless process and put in the type of recurring revenue and the amount of recurring revenue that will balance this year's and next year's budget. I'm still hopeful that will occur. But the plan they submitted last night doesn't come close."

Pennsylvania Might Be ...
... be the only state in the nation without an approved 2009-2010 budget, but at least Gov. Ed can console himself by knowing he's made Esquire magazine's list of the "75 Best People in the World."

The vaunted men's mag will publish its roster in the October issue that'll be hitting the stands any day now. And Rendell clocked in at a passable No. 40, with the pub's editors ruling that he deserves inclusion because "he proves that not every macher need be a pig or a prick."

For the goyim out there, macher is a Yiddish word meaning big-shot, or a person who gets things done. And we're sure that there are voters (mostly Republican, we assume) who will quibble with that characterization.

So who finished above Rendell on the rankings list? It's varied and interesting.

MSNBC host (and new RendellBFF) Rachel Maddow finished at No. 11.

Not having a life apparently didn't hurt the chances of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who finished in 20th place

CBS News reporter Lara Logan was 33rd, while Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton finished at 35 (see, Ed? All that campaigning paid off after all).

First-place honors went to actor Matt Damon, who must have had a movie to promote or something. Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch (who owns Democrat bete noirFox "News") finished at No. 15, by the way.

A quick programming note: We'll be back on budget duty this morning. But if you're so inclined, you can catch us on PCN'sJournalists Roundtable show tonight at 8 p.m. with our pals Pete DeCoursey of Capitolwire and Brad Bumsted of the Tribune-Review.

The show tapes at 11 a.m. Thus, our only goal for the broadcast is to have what we say be at least moderately relevant, or not wildly incorrect, by airtime this evening.

And, as always, you can register for state news alerts on our Twitter page. See you back here in a bit.

Legislative leaders
early this morning said they had submitted a budget proposal to Gov. Ed Rendell and
were waiting for a response.

“We put forth an offering to the governor and
we’re waiting to hear back on what we put on the table,” said House
Speaker Keith McCall, D-Carbon.

Lawmakers would not say what’s in the proposal. They
said they expect to return to work on the budget this morning.

He and other negotiators had worked through Wednesday night,
seeking to bring down the curtain on Pennsylvania’s nearly
three-month-old budget stalemate.

Rendell's chief-of-staff, Steve Crawford, said the administration plans to take a hard look at the lawmakers' new proposal. But, he said., he was "suspicious" of some of the revenue assumptions included within it.

"Some of the obvious fixes that we put before them, they seemed extremely reluctant to do," he said, adding that the proposal did not include any proposal to hike the state's personal income tax.

"We need to see the details and need to analyze the offering," Crawford said. "There are differences of opinion in the caucuses of what the offer is, which is a tad disconcerting."

HARRISBURG _ Legislative negotiators said they planned to work through the night on Wednesday to finally bring down the curtain on Pennsylvania's nearly three-month-old budget stalemate.

"We're continuing our work," House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne, said as he left an early evening negotiating session at Lt. Gov. Joe Scarnati's Capitol offices.

In a separate interview, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, offered a similar sentiment."We will continue to meet as long as we make progress," he said.

As they have for each of the last two days, legislative leaders said they were trying to resolve their differences over how to raise the revenue needed to pay for a $27.9 billion compromise budget that was made public last week.

Backers want to pay for the plan by, among other things, halting a planned phase-out of the state's capital stick and franchise tax levied against a business' physical assets; cigarette taxes would rise by 25-cents-a-pack and table games would be legalized at the state's slot machine casinos.

The plan also calls for such one-time fixes as draining the state's $755 million Rainy Day Fund savings account and transferring $25 million in state liquor store profits into the general fund budget.

One of the main bones of contention this week has been over how much the state can expect to raise by boosting prize limits and taxes on small games of chance at fire halls and private clubs. Legislative leaders have pegged that number at $100 million this year and $200 million next year.

Gov. Ed Rendell, who has vowed to veto the spending plan, has said lawmakers have wildly overestimated that number.

On Wednesday evening, House Speaker Keith McCall, D-Carbon, said the two sides were closing that gap.

When the session broke for dinner shortly before 6 p.m., Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman, R-Centre, told reporters that budget-writers and the administration were also still trying to reach agreement on the allocations within individual budget accounts."We're just trying to make the numbers work," he said.

And even as they seek agreement from Rendell, legislative leaders were also working the build support among rank-and-file lawmakers. Earlier this week, Rendell claimed that "mini-revolts" were brewing in legislative caucus rooms.

House Republican leaders oppose the budget plan and have hitched their support to a $27.5 billion plan presented to a joint House and Senate conference committee two weeks ago.

House GOP lawmakers did not attend the negotiating session at Scarnati's office.

Earlier in the day on Wednesday, Rep. Karen Beyer, R-Lehigh, echoed the sentiments of other back-bench Republicans, saying that, "If this budget is detrimental to the people of the Commonwealth … I won't hold my nose and vote for it."

Greetings, Fellow Seekers.
Here's where things stand as we come up on tea-time on the 78th day without a budget:

1. Legislative leaders have just gone into their second meeting of the day, convening again in Lt. Gov. Joe Scarnati's office on the second-floor of the Capitol rotunda.

2. Going into the meeting, several participants, including Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, and Appropriations Chairman Jake Corman, R-Centre, said they believed legislative negotiators were getting close to an agreement that could meet with approval.

"There's no agreement yet, but we continue to make progress," Pileggi said, thus answering the age-old question: "How do you keep a half-dozen reporters in suspense?"

3. Lawmakers continue to wrestle with the same issues they were wrestling with yesterday: revenue, education spending, revenue, tax credits, and also, revenue. There's no agreement on how much can be raised by boosting the proceeds and taxes on small games of chance. And if there's not a satisfactory answer to that, lawmakers must then contend with what other sorts of revenue they can raise to make up the shortfall, Senate Democratic negotiators told us.

4. There is agreement, more or less, on the amount of total spending: $27.9 billion. As ever, they are dickering over the allocations within individual line items.

HARRISBURG _ Table games at Pennsylvania’s
slot-machine casinos would create thousands of jobs and help the emerging
industry compete with rivals in other states, a legislative oversight committee
was told this morning.

“I think this is a logical progression,” from slot machines,
Sen. Robert M. Tomlinson, R-Bucks, and the sponsor of one table games proposal,
told the Senate Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee.

The legalization of table games at the casinos is a key part
of a $27.9 billion compromise budget plan that could be taken up by lawmakers
sometime this week or early next week. Backers estimate that they could raise $200
million from the games in 2009-2010 and nearly $121 million in revenue in
2010-2011.

Tomlinson, whose district includes the Philadelphia Park
casino in Bensalem, Bucks County, has proposed taxing table games at a rate of
12 percent, raising an expected $165 million that would go straight into the
state’s general fund budget. It would charge a $10 million licensing fee.

A competing House proposal, sponsored by Majority Whip Bill
DeWeese, D-Greene, projects $200 million to $300 million a year from table
games, taxed at a rate of 21 percent, along with a $10 million up-front license
fee and a $500,000 annual renewal fee.

The southwestern
Democrat's proposal calls for that money to be channeled into property tax
relief for homeowners.

Last week, DeWeese
said he'd be willing to amend his bill to divert gaming proceeds to the general
fund budget for the first three years that table games are in operation.

During testimony this morning, Tomlinson told his Senate
colleagues that it’s important to keep the tax rate on table games low because
casino operators are already paying high levies on slot machine proceeds. The
lower taxes, he argued, would spur the creation of 10,000 jobs connected to the
labor-intensive games.

“At a time when the economy is very bad, 10,000 jobs would
be welcome in addition to the 7,000 jobs,” that have already been created by
slots, Tomlinson said.

Tomlinson briefly sparred with Sen. Jane Orie, R-Allegheny,
who asked why the state couldn’t put table-game licenses up for auction instead
of fixing them at a rate of $10 million.

“Why not let the market consider it, instead of us guessing?”
she asked. “Why not put them up for auction.”

The BucksCounty lawmaker’s
response was swift:

“I’m not sure you’d get any bids,” he said. “If we asked $50
million today, I’m not sure you’d get it because the industry is in that much
difficulty.”

Some House and Senate Republicans have said the state should
not sign off on table games until the General Assembly adopts reforms to the
state’s existing slot machine law. Orie, a former AlleghenyCounty
prosecutor, advocated for that position this morning.

The committee’s chairwoman, Sen. Jane Earll, R-Erie, sought
to reassure Orie that lawmakers would fix the five-year-old gaming law even as
they work on table games legislation.

In the meantime, new Pennsylvania Gaming Board Chairman Greg
Fajt told lawmakers this morning that the regulatory agency “stands ready” to
begin overseeing table games as soon as lawmakers approve them.

Good Morning, Fellow Seekers.
Welcome to Day 78 without an approved state budget. By sheer coincidence, there are a mere 100 days left until Christmas. So it's never too early to start thinking about what kind of gift you might want to send the General Assembly this year.

During a briefing yesterday evening, Rendell administration spokesman Gary Tuma told us that lawmakers and the administration are slowly beginning to reach agreement on some of the revenue components in the $27.9 billion compromise budget. Sticking points included the $75 million film tax credit and exactly how much the state could raise by expanding prize limits on taxes and small games of chance.

For the sake of clarity, we should probably stress here that "small games of chance," include such games as church-run Bingo and not the wildly successful (and thoroughly unregulated) Capitol Ideas' "When Will They Pass The Budget Pool." We're still taking entrants, by the way.

So with that out of the way, let's dive right into the rest of today's headlines. They start, as always, after the jump.

A Senior House Democratic Aide ...
... tells Capitol Ideas that negotiators hope to have the fine print on a $27.9 billion budget deal hammered out by the end of the day today. We've also learned that a joint House and Senate conference committee could meet as soon as tomorrow to consider the spending plan.

"We intend to get there today," said Paul Parsells, the chief of staff to House Speaker Keith R. McCall, D-Carbon.

As we told you earlier today, House and Senate staffers have been meeting throughout the afternoon to reach agreement on the spending and revenue side of the 2009-2010 spending formulated by House and Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans.

Two major bones of contention on the revenue side: the money earned by increased taxes and prize limits on small games of chance and the amount of money set aside from tax credits.

"I think the issue of recurring revenue is important to the House Democrats and the governor," Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne, said earlier today. "We had a good meeting with legislative leaders and we have work groups going on revenue and spending."

Asked whether the two sides had closed the gap on how much to spend (Gov. Ed said the two sides were between $60 million and $70 million apart yesterday), Eachus responded, "We're trying."

HARRISBURG _ Battered by the whims of politics and desperate
for funding, some 150 civic and community leaders from across Pennsylvania have
penned an open letter to Gov. Ed Rendell and state lawmakers, urging them to
set partisanship aside and pass a completed state budget.

“We need a budget now and we need a budget that invests in
our health and human services infrastructure that has been damaged by the
impasse,” Tony Ross, the president of the United Way of Pennsylvania, said at midday news
conference.

Ross’ remarks came as legislative leaders of both parties and the Democratic
Rendell administration continued their talks over a $27.9 billion budget plan,
crafted by three of the four legislative caucuses, that Rendell has vowed
to veto if it reaches his desk.

In a brief interview, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, said administration negotiators had embraced some of the revenue proposals put forth in the plan crafted by the Senate GOP and Senate and House Democrats. He said there was still "substantial work" to be done on the allocations within individual line items.

"I'm more optimistic than I was yesterday," about the administration's tone, Pileggi said. He declined to comment on the specifics of any agreement.

Legislative staffers are expected to meet throughout the day today and it appears that legislative leaders may convene for another session at 4 p.m.

Social service agencies have been struggling under the yoke
of an $11 billion “bridge’ budget that Rendell signed into law in August. The
spending plan kept paychecks flowing to state employees and provided funding
for core parts of state government. But funding for programs that serve the
disabled, children and the needy were left on the cutting room floor.

In an interview Monday, Rendell said he expected lawmakers
would try to override his veto of the spending plan, which he has said would
leave the state $1 billion in the red next year. He also said he might not try
to fight an override, partly because he wants to restart payments to social
service agencies.

This afternoon, a frustrated Ross said he didn’t much care
who made the first move, as long as it was made.

“The vehicle for a budget agreement is not important,” he
said. “It can be House Bill Whatever or it can be Senate Bill Whatever.”

Gary Drapek, the president of the United Way of Wayne
and Lackawanna
counties, painted a dire picture of how the absence of state funding has
affected some of the state’s neediest citizens.

“In the northeast region, 20 agencies have laid staff or
will lay off staff,” he said. “Senior centers have closed down or reduced their
hours … Forty-two victims of domestic violence a week will receive nothing more
than a dial-tone when they call crisis hotlines.”

Budgetless since July 1, Pennsylvania remains the only state in the
nation without a completed spending plan for 2009-2010.

Good Morning, Fellow Seekers.
In deference to the fact that we are severely under-caffeinated this morning, we're just going to jump straight into a quick-hit digest of the best of today's news headlines and other goings-on.

On the budget front, work continues on the $27.9 billion compromise plan amid renewed threats of a gubernatorial veto and the possibility that the House/Senate conference committee may meet today.

The Post-Gazette, meanwhile, is all over hometown boy Tom Corbett'sannouncement for governor last night. We have this filed under fait accompli.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09258/998105-178.stm

Here in the Capitol, the United Way and other groups will hold a noontime presser in the Main Rotunda on behalf of social services funding. Gov. Ed has no public events scheduled at the moment. But, as we know, that can -- and often does -- change at a moment's notice these days.

Stay tuned to the 'blog today for the latest in budget developments. And, if you're so inclined, you can follow our live updates on Twitter. See you in a bit.

THE VETO THAT WOULDN'T DIE: Lawmakers come up with a compromise, $27.9 billion budget plan, only to have Gov. Ed threaten to break out the veto pen. Where's the common ground? And how can they reach it?

FIFTY BUCKS ON RED: Lawmakers are betting on table games to pay for their budget and close a massive deficit. But who comes up sevens if their roll of the dice is a success?

NOTHING SO SURE AS DEATH AND TAXES: A detailed look at how negotiators intend to pay for their plans and whose ox is getting gored.

Regular listeners know the drill. Right-click the link below to get things started.

HARRISBURG
_ Undeterred by the renewed threat of a gubernatorial veto, state lawmakers
continued work Monday on a tentative $27.9 billion spending plan that they hope
will end a budget stalemate that’s dragged into its third month.

They did so under heavy fire from Democratic Gov. Ed
Rendell, who continued hammering away at the compromise plan put together by
House and Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans, charging that it would leave
Pennsylvania in a ruinous financial state within three years.

“There will be a fiscal tsunami,” Rendell said at a midday
news conference, referring to slumping state revenues and the loss of federal stimulus funds that will be no longer available in two years' time..

As he has for the past several days, Rendell continued to
claim that the projected tax revenues for the spending plan, which include
hikes to both cigarette and business taxes, were overly generous.

The overstated revenues include for instance, legislative
projections that an expansion of natural gas-drilling leases on state
forestland would raise $243 million. The administration says it would raise
$200 million.

Administration officials also say budget-crafters
overestimated the amount that could be raised by lifting the prize limits and
increasing taxes on small games of chance. Legislative
estimates put the amount at $100 million. The administration believes it would
actually raise about $4 million.

Rendell has called on lawmakers to consider lifting some of
the multi-million exemptions to the state's 6 percent sales tax (7 percent in Philadelphia and AlleghenyCounty)
as a way to raise some of that badly needed cash. Lawmakers have resisted those
calls.

“Build up revenues. Do the difficult things now to get ahead
of the problem,” Rendell said Monday. "It is the fiscally responsible
thing to do."

Rendell again predicted lawmakers to try to override his
veto – if they could muster the votes.

But in an odd turn,
he suggested that he would not try to fight an override -- a move that would
restore funding to battered social service groups, as well as cash-strapped county
governments, while depositing the blame for any economic damage squarely in the
laps of lawmakers.

"I want that suffering to end," he said of the
groups that have been struggling to make ends meet since Rendell signed an $11
billion “bridge budget” last month that excised hundreds of millions of dollars
in state funding for programs serving the disabled, elderly and children.

Despite Rendell’s seemingly entrenched opposition,
legislative leaders continued trying to win his support. A joint House and
Senate conference committee meeting planned for late in the day on Monday was
indefinitely pushed off while staffers continued tinkering with the budget
proposal’s fine print.

“It was never our desire to have the governor be a force in
opposition to this bipartisan and bicameral compromise,” Senate Majority Leader
Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, said. “We thought he would join us, and we would
accommodate him where we would accommodate him, and get this behind us.”

Pileggi predicted that the spending plan, once it’s approved
by the conference committee and put to a vote in both chambers, would pass both
the House and Senate and be sent to Rendell.

“The last I heard [majority House Democrats] intended to
honor the agreement,” Pileggi said. “It would be supported by a majority of the
Senate and House Democrats would win the support of their caucus. And a
substantial number of [House] Republicans would support it.”

On Monday afternoon, House Republicans reiterated their
opposition to the compromise plan and restated their support for a $27.5
billion budget plan they offered to budget negotiators two weeks ago.

“Our caucus does not agree with the increase spending,” said
House Minority Leader Sam Smith, R-Jefferson. “We do not have the revenues to
support that spending.”

HARRISBURG _ A joint House and Senate negotiating committee is still on track to take up a $27.9 billion budget proposal backed by three of the four legislative caucuses later today, even as Gov. Ed Rendell further dug in his heels in opposition to it.

At a midday briefing with reporters, Rendell again vowed to veto the tentative spending plan put together by House and Senate Democrats and majority Senate Republicans. As he has since the plan was made public late last week, Rendell repeated his charges that it would leave the state up to $1 billion in the red in the 2010-2011 budget year.

He also took issue with the revenues that budget architects say they'll raise to pay for the plan. Those include claims that an expansion of natural gas leasing on state forestland would raise $243 million. The administration says it would raise $200 million. Administration officials also say budget-crafters overestimated the amount that could be raised by lifting the prize limits and increasing taxes on Bingo games and other small games of chance. Initial estimates put the amount at $100 million. The administration believes it would actually raise about $4 million.

Rendell said lawmakers need to come up with steady sources of revenue to keep the state on an even keel when federal stimulus money runs out in two years and the state begins facing massive public pension costs in three years' time. He has called on lawmakers to consider lifting some of the multi-million exemptions to the state's 6 percent sales tax (7 percent in Philadelphia and Allegheny County) as a way to raise some of that badly needed cash. Lawmakers have resisted those calls.

"Build up revenues. Do the difficult things now to get ahead of the problem," Rendell said. "It is the fiscally responsible thing to do."

DREXEL HILL, PA – Pat Meehan, the former U.S. Attorney for
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and former District Attorney of Delaware County,
formally announced his candidacy for Congress today in Pennsylvania’s
7th Congressional District at a series of campaign stops in Delaware, Montgomery, and Chester Counties.

“Traveling across the region and state these past months, I
have had the opportunity to meet and speak with many local residents,”
said Meehan. “They have told me they feel their voice is not being
heard in Washington, that their representatives have sold them out to special
interests, that government is being imposed on them, rather than working for
them. It is time our elected officials be made to answer
for the decisions they make about our money and about our children’s
future.”

“Many of the challenges confronting us here at home transcend
state lines—whether it’s strengthening the economy, keeping down
health care costs, or helping small businesses—and the solutions will be
determined in Congress,” said Meehan. “I am formally
announcing my candidacy for U.S. Congress because I want to restore
integrity to our nation’s capital and ensure that the voice of local
voters is heard on critical issues like taxes, jobs, health care, and restoring
fiscal responsibility to the federal government.”

Meehan started the day by announcing his candidacy this morning before
family, neighbors, and friends gathered outside his Drexel Hill home in Delaware County.

He made additional
announcements outside a manufacturing facility in Bridgeport,
Pa and a retirement community in West Chester, Pa.
Meehan said that one of the topics that most came up in his discussions
with voters was frustration and anger over rampant spending in Washington, DC.

“People have watched the federal government spend billions of
dollars to rescue a few huge banks while hundreds of community banks
failed,” said Meehan. “They have watched billions being spent to
keep bankrupt General Motors and Chrysler in business, while local small
businesses struggle to meet a weekly payroll. They see an $800 billion
stimulus bill rushed through Congress, yet a half year later, only one in ten
dollars is spent and a record 6.5 million Americans are out of
work.”
“Voters are concerned as our national debt is expected to double
in the next three years and triple within a decade to an astonishing $10
trillion,” said Meehan.

“That translates into thirty-three thousand
dollars of personal debt for every man, woman and child in America. This type of
unchecked spending leads to inflation, higher job-killing taxes, and a burden
of enormous debt that our children and their children will carry like a
millstone for generations.”
"I believe public service is a calling and when I
answered that call as U.S. Attorney and District Attorney, I brought with me a
set of guiding principles: faith, integrity, hard work, and
accountability,” said Meehan.

“Those are the same principles
that I saw lived out by my mother and father and the families in my community.
Those are the principles that voters want in their elected officials and those
are the principles I will bring with me to Washington, DC.”

Pat Meehan also launched today an official campaign website at www.meehanforcongress.com that
contains his positions on the issues, information on volunteering for his
campaign, and online contribution information."

For Those Of You Playing Along At Home:
The conference committee meeting has been rescheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
And Gov. Ed's throwing a 12:30 presser to talk budget.
Keep checking back here for updates. We'll have live info on the Twitter feed.

Good Morning, Fellow Seekers.
We passed an agreeable Sunday evening with our fellow ink-stained wretches and a few of our cousins from the broadcast media, sitting vigil outside the Governor's Mansion, waiting for word on the budget.

And if you saw our post last night, then you know not much has changed as the state enters its 11th week without a completed spending plan for 2009-2010. Legislative negotiators say they plan to plunge ahead with the $27.9 billion compromise budget they introduced last week, even as they try to convince Gov. Ed to step gently away from his veto pen.

Lawmakers will start pushing the boulder up the hill this morning as they break out the pantomime horse costumes and get ready for another session of the joint House and Senate conference committee.

Since a conference committee cannot be amended on the floor, and the administration still hasn't signed off on the three-caucus deal, we're not sure what purpose this morning's session will serve apart from allowing Dwight Evans to smile beatifically while he utters yet another series of nearly incomprehensible, budget-related koans.

On the other hand, our dance card for today is hardly full. So a conference committee meeting seems like as good a way as any to help kill a Monday morning in September. As always, we'll be there to bring you the blow-by-blow on our custom-built Twitter feed. You can also check back later today for this week's installment of the "Politics as Usual" podcast, where we'll bring you the latest in negotiations and sum up the picture so far.

A quick summary of the rest of today's headlines starts, as always, after the jump.

HARRISBURG _ Legislative budget negotiators spent a Sunday night session with Gov. Ed
Rendell trying to win his support for a $27.9 billion compromise spending
plan that the governor has said he will veto.

The 2 -1/2 hour session at the governor's residence on the banks of the Susquehanna River appeared to produce no major breakthroughs and negotiators said they plan to continue talking with Rendell.

It appeared Sunday that lawmakers still plan to begin consideration of the budget later this week. And a joint House-Senate conference committee is slated to meet on Monday morning to begin that work.

"We want to work cooperatively with the governor," said state House Speaker Keith McCall, D-Carbon. "We understand he has the final say with his veto pen."

Legislative staff were to work through the night on Sunday and into early Monday morning to prepare lawmakers' case to sway Rendell.

"It's in our best interest to get this done and work with the governor in a cooperative way," said state Sen. Jay Costa of Allegheny County, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Gov. Ed held a noontime presser this afternoon, in which he repeated his promise to veto the plan cooked up by House and Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans. He also once again double-dog-dared lawmakers to try to override a veto if they can (a prospect that seems unlikely since House Republicans are not on board with the spending plan made public on Friday).

The Democratic governor accused lawmakers of crafting a "get-out-of-town" budget that's a half-billion short on revenue this year, and will leave the state $1 billion in the red next year.

"I'm just mystified," he said.

The Guv's comments ticked off Senate Republicans who helped craft the proposal.

"It should be clear now to everyone why Pennsylvania budgets have been late for the past seven years. A bipartisan group of legislative leaders has given the governor a map to the middle ground, and he still can’t find it," Senate GOP spokesman Erik Arneson said.

Rendell didn't quibble much with the total spending number, saying it could be "tweaked" to reach an agreeable bottom line. But as was the case yesterday, the administration still has a serious bone to pick with the revenue projections included in the spending plan.

For instance:
Shale leases for natural gas drilling would yield $60 million, the administration estimates, not an expected $100 million. And earnings from small games of chance less than $10 million, not $100 million projected by lawmakers.

Rendell said he'd presented lawmakers with a lengthy list of revenue-raising options when they began negotiating the budget sometime around the dawn of the Carter administration.

Making us cringe only a little bit, Rendell said the list was "like a Chinese menu" because lawmakers could pick and choose from it.

"It's all about a balanced budget that secures Pennsylvania's future," Rendell said. "That's the most important thing to take out of this restaurant."

Nor was Rendell too psyched with the $300 million increase in funding for basic education. Yes, it hit the mark he was looking for. But he claimed lawmakers got there by trimming $147 million in spending from other parts of the Education Department, including so-called "accountability block grants," that fund some of the administration's favored early-childhood education programs.

Budget negotiators are set to meet Sunday night at Rendell's manse over on Second Street. Reporters are expected to stake out, but will not be invited in. It also means we'll be setting the DVR for the season finale of "True Blood."

"Anyone who attempts to climb over the gate will be shot," Rendell joked.

HARRISBURG _ Accepting at least part of the blame for a
budget impasse that’s dragged on for nearly three months, legislative leaders
said Friday that they plan to begin voting next week on a compromise, $27.9
billion budget plan that dodges any broad-based tax hikes and increases
spending on basic education by $300 million.

Backers would pay for the plan by boosting cigarette and
business taxes, legalizing poker and other table games at Pennsylvania’s slot machine casinos and by
draining the state’s Rainy Day Fund savings account.

Budgetless since July 1, Pennsylvania remains the only state in the
nation without an approved budget for 2009-2010. After weeks of partisan
bickering, legislative leaders said the time had come to put aside political
differences and reach an agreement.

“It is time to have a state budget. It is time to respond to
the needs of Pennsylvanians. It is time for bipartisanship,” said Senate
President Pro Tempore and Lieutenant Gov. Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson.

Despite being repeatedly characterized as a compromise, the
plan does not have the support of Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and House
Republicans. Despite that, negotiators said they planned to stick to their
guns.

In a brief interview, House Minority Leader Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, said he remains opposed to the compromise plan.

"The bottom line is that we don't think it's right to raise taxes in this environment. And what they propose to spend is more than this state has," he said.

Negotiators said they plan to reconvene a joint House and
Senate conference committee on Monday and would begin putting the 102 House
votes and 26 Senate votes needed to approve the budget package and send it to
Rendell’s desk. Lawmakers could be finished voting on the main budget and its accompanying bills by the end of next week.

McCall said the compromise plan meets Rendell’s demand for
$300 million in spending for education and at least $1 billion in recurring
revenue.

“We have met those parameters,” he said.

Pileggi said he believes the plan lawmakers unveiled Friday
“is a final agreement.”

The compromise budget proposal does not include any
increases to the state’s 3.07 personal income tax or the 6 percent sales tax.
Instead, it raises $1.2 billion in so-called “recurring revenues” by, among
other things:

Delaying
the ongoing phase-out of the Capital Stock & Franchise tax levied
against a business’ physical assets. The delay would raise $374 million in
2009-10 and $550.6 million

Raising
$200 million in 2009-10 and $121 million in 2010-11 by legalizing table
games at Pennsylvania’s
slot machine casinos.

Boosting
Pennsylvania’s
cigarette tax by 25-cents-a-pack, raising $97 million this year and nearly
$146 million in 2010-11.

Expanding
leases for natural gas drilling, raising $100 million

Transferring
$25 million this year and next year in state liquor store profits into the
general fund budget.

One of the state’s leading business lobbies bristled at the
prospect of a delay in the phase-out of the capital stock and franchise tax,
but said he was interested in planned tweaks to two other corporate taxes that
have long been sought by the business community..

“These are things you balance and weigh,” said Gene Barr,
the top lobbyist for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry.

Good Morning, Fellow Seekers.
As we were the first to tell you yesterday, it appears the broad outlines of a budget agreement have emerged.
An Associated Press story this morning matches the broad details we sketched out for you yesterday: A $27.9 billion bottom line and revenye from the legalization of table games, a higher business tax and a 25-cent-a-pack increase in cigarette taxes.
House and Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans have scheduled an 11 a.m. press conference in the East Wing Media Center to talk about the budget. At this writing, House Republicans are not participating. And Gov. Ed is said to be resisting the emerging agreement.
More as we get it.
$28 billion with revenue from the legalization of poker and other table games at the state's slot-machine casinos, a higher business tax and a 25-cents-a-pack increase in the cigarette levy.

Remember How We Told You ...
... this morning that the House was going to vote on that pension reform bill today?
Yeah ... totally not happening now. It's now on for tomorrow (so far).House Democrats are working on an amendment for tonight that will completely eliminate all the collective bargaining language included by the Senate (making unions happy, the Senate, we assume, will be less so).
It also gets rid of most of the state take-over language for really distressed pension systems. Except for Pittsburgh, which has two years to get its act together, and then face the prospect of a takeover.
The bill (at least for right now, and unless it changes, which could totally happen) would still allow Philly to raise its sales tax from 7 percent to 8 percent. And the city would still be allowed to defer some of its pension payments.
"This is a modest, little bill that morphed into something unrecognizable," Johnna Pro, a spokeswoman for House Approps Chairman Dwight Evans, just told one of our colleagues down the way.
The House Rules Committee is now tentatively scheduled to meet at 5 p.m., where we're all supposed to get a gander at the actual language. Right now, this stuff only exists in concept.
The action by Rules tonight means the House has to wait 24 hours before it can start voting on the bill, which means we'll all be back here at 4:30 or 5 p.m. tomorrow watching the chamber go through its paces.
And you know what's fun? Hanging around this place on the weekend. We LOVE that.

Philly Mayor Mike Nutter ...
... was surrounded by a gaggle of reporters in advance of this afternoon's expected vote on the Philly bail-out/pension bill.
"This is an crisis moment, people know that," Nutter told the assembled scribes.
As to whether the House would actually put the plan to a vote this afternoon, Nutter said, "We're hopeful. But we don't control the calendar. There's lots of serious issues. It's a complicated situation."

House Minority Leader Sam Smith ...
... briefed rank-and-filers on the state of budget talks during their caucus this afternoon, multiple sources tell Capitol Ideas. And here's the picture that emerged:1. Legislative negotiators are said to be near to an "agreement-in-principle" on a $27.9 billion budget for 2009-2010. Democratic sources with knowledge of the talks said the assessment was a touch too optimistic, and said more work needed to be done.
2. It was not immediately clear how much new or one-time revenue would be needed to fund such a proposal. But sources did tell us the plan relies for its funding on an increase to Pennsylvania's cigarette tax. It would also roll back the capital stock and franchise tax to 2008 levels, at 2.89 mills. It may also include the legalization of table games, sources familiar with the talks said.
3. Sources we spoke with this afternoon said the spending plan had not been presented to Gov. Ed Rendell.
More as this develops.

The suit claims Rendell's vetoes were "without rational basis in violation of the
equal protection clause, the due process clause, the takings clause and the
supremacy clause of the Constitution."

The suit seeks to fully fund the budget bill that Rendell partially vetoed or to strike the $11 billion "bridge" budget that resulted from the governor's blue-lining. The suit also sees to "fully fund all social services mandated by federal law which are not currently being funded.

The action was filed by the firm of Kelley and Murphy, which also has offices in Harrisburg and Blue Bell, Montgomery County.
(hat tip: GrassrootsPA)

Barring Any Unforeseen Natural Disasters ...
... the state House will vote today on a pension reform bill sent over by the state Senate. The bill is opposed by fire and police unions, who claim it hurts their ability to bargain collectively for pension benefits. Backers say the bill would require municipalities to make sure they can pay for existing benefits for existing retirees before they go and add new ones.

If our information is correct, the House is expected to formally convene at 11 a.m. Not sure when the actual voting will begin. We assume it will be prefaced by the usual ceremonial rigamarole and caucusing.

So let's dive right into an abbreviated summary of the rest of today's news

Two Former Luzerne County Judges ...... were indicted Wednesday on federal racketeering charges for allegedly engaging in a scheme to place juvenile offenders in privately owned detention centers, the Associated Press reports this morning.
A federal grand jury in Harrisburg returned a 48-count indictment against the ex-jurists, Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella Jr.. They have been accused of accepting millions of dollars in kickbacks related to the construction of two youth detention facilities, the AP reported.
The two men pleaded guilty in February to honest services fraud and tax evasion in a deal with prosecutors that called for a sentence of 87 months in prison, far below federal guidelines.
That deal was rejected last month by Senior U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik, who said the two hadn't fully accepted responsibility for the crimes, and the ex-judges switched their pleas to not guilty, the AP reported

You Can Add Veterans' Organizations ...
... to the growing list of interest groups that are feeling the pinch this budget season.
An $11 billion bridge budget signed into law by Gov. Ed spiked some funding to vets' programs. And they are not happy -- not one bit.
"Veterans feel insulted to have their appropriations cut in the same way as, say, welfare. Veterans are one group who actually went out and earned their benefits," Larry Holman, the immediate past president of the Pennsylvania War Veterans Council, told the newspaper.
Administration spokesman Gary Tuma told the P-N that Rendell had deleted all but the most essential state government funding in the temporary budget.

Deck Chair Rearranging Dept.
There's a new sheriff in town at the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors. Former Ridge administration official and current Bucks County CEO, David M. Sanko, will take the reins on Jan. 1. He succeeds current executive director, Keith Hite, who's retiring.

Judge Otter?
Longtime Friend O' The Blog, Larry Otter, writes this morning to let us know he'll be seeking the (substitute) Democratic nomination to a seat on the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas.
Due to some legal stuff that we don't entirely understand, there would appear to be a vacancy on the county judicial ballot this fall that can only be filled by a vote of the Bucks County Democrats. Otter says he's going to step into that breach.

EdWatch (TM):
Pennsylvania's chief executive travels to Gettysburg this morning to talk to one of the few groups who have a lower approval rating than he does: the annual convention of PA mortgage bankers. The fun starts at 11 a.m. at the Eisenhower Hotel on Emmitsburg Road.
Then, at 2 p.m., it's back to Harrisburg for an event in the reception room. There, Rendell will discuss the state's work "to minimize public impact (sic) of steam generators' transport through south-central Pennsylvania."
And, no, we have no idea what that is either.

In The Blogosphere.
GrassrootsPA on candidates gearing up for a run against U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, D-3rd; PAProgressive on that S.C. congressman who embarrassed himself during the POTUS' speech last night; 2 Political Junkies on other congressional Republicans who apparently left their manners at home last night; Tony Phyrillas has some polling data; Allentown Mayoral candidate Tony Phillips is staying in the race despite some embarrassing personal revelations yesterday, Bernie O'Hare says; Above Average Jane has some Obama speech linkage; Unsurprisingly, Policy Blog disagrees with the White House's prescription for healthcare; It's Our Money wonders if Mayor Mike is bluffing in Philly; Wonkette has your daily briefing; Robert L. Borosage has a few thoughts on the POTUS's speech; Andrew Sullivan wonders who's to blame for low college graduation rates; Hotline takes in the VA Guv's race; Jake Tapper on last night's speech and it's this morning's Playbook.

On The Capitol Ideas iPod This Morning.
We're feeling a touch under the weather this morning, and thus find ourselves craving the musical equivalent of comfort food. Whenever that happens, we inevitably turn to Aussie psych-rockers The Church. From 1988, here's their biggest stateside hit, "Under The Milky Way."

Thursday's Gratuitous Baseball Link.
New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter pulled even with the legendary Lou Gehrigon the team's all-time hits list last night, as he knocked in three hits against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays to tie the Iron Man's 2,721. Jeter will have a chance to break the record tonight. This one's for the late Papa Capitol Ideas, a lifelong Yankee fan, who died on March 19, and passed that love of the Bronx Bombers to us. We wish he was here to see it.

That's it for now. Check back later today for more news and updates. And remember to register for state news alerts on our Twitter page. See you all in a bit.